Friendly Face
by Bellalyse Winchester
Summary: The Doctor and Donna land on a planet called Friendly Face. At first it seems like the ideal getaway...
1. Preface

**An idea that may have gotten rid of my writer's block (for now...)! This chapter is PREVIEWING the events to come, so the next chapter will have happened before it. Artistic license. **

**I own nothing but my creativity. **

_

* * *

Black eyes, black, black, black…_

_Donna Noble backed away in terror. "No!" she screamed. "No, stay away from me!" The eyes of the man she knew so well were cold, unfamiliar, and unrelenting. "Stay back!" As the man stepped closer and his hands rose from his sides, extending towards her, she shrieked again. "No! Doctor, _save me!_" _

"_I _am_ the Doctor," the man answered, a sneer crossing his familiar lips. "Come on, Donna; show me a friendly face."_


	2. Friendly Faces

Act 1 ~ Friendly Faces on Friendly Face

The Doctor and Donna stepped from the TARDIS to be pulled into a massive, stirring crowd.

"Oh!" Donna exclaimed, reaching out quickly enough to snatch the Doctor's coattails and follow him through the tremendous, multicolored waves of people.

"Have you seen a friendly face today?" A woman managed to catch Donna and ask her this quickly before she and the Doctor were forced deeper into the crowd.

"Friendly face?" Donna murmured to herself. A hand grabbed hers and at first she was startled, but looked up to see the Doctor facing her.

"There's a break in the crowd just ahead," he cried over the roaring mass of people. Donna nodded, and he squeezed her hand once before pulling her onwards. They finally reached an open space, where they could breathe deep breaths, and couldn't help a little laughter.

"Some landing," the Doctor sighed, and Donna rolled her eyes.

"Next time, let's not get in the middle of a holiday parade, yeah?"

A man standing a few paces away seemed to have heard them. "Excuse me?" he asked, approaching. "Are you offworlders?"

"Tourists, yep, that's us," the Doctor answered.

"I'm Donna, this is the Doctor," Donna put in.

"I could tell you weren't from here," he said, smirking. "My name's Zulu. This isn't a holiday parade—it's the Afternoon Cheer."

The Doctor and Donna did a double-take.

"S—sorry?" Donna asked. "It's like this every afternoon?"

"Why put a break in celebration?" Zulu asked with a broad smile. "The Cheers go on all day, every day."

"No kidding?" the Doctor asked with interest. "That's brilliant! Take every moment, just to celebrate life!"

"There's no reason to see a face that isn't friendly," Zulu grinned. "Please, wear a smile and be happy!"

"Thank you, I will," the Doctor exclaimed graciously. "Now—sorry, do you know any sort of overnight area? R and R, right?"

"Absolutely," Zulu answered, lowering his voice. "You're offworlders, not used to this much noise, I take it? Just take the path marked 'Inner City' just to the north, that way. There's a hotel that offers brilliant accommodations to walk-ins. Called the Happy-Cheer Centre."

"Excellent!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Well, then, c'mon, Donna!"

Donna, who had been standing by with pursed lips as the man spoke, took the Doctor's hand when he offered it to her but gave him a sideways glance as they walked away.

"Notice anything…unusual?" she asked him lowly as they began their walk into the Inner City.

The Doctor furrowed his brow. "Ummm… does the fact that you noticed something unusual count?" he asked.

"I'm just saying, didn't that man seem a bit…too happy?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Donna Noble. Just because we find trouble everywhere we go doesn't mean you have to start _looking_ for it. This is the planet Friendly Face; it's literally the safest place in the galaxy. Low crime rate, good, happy people with high life expectancies—very few diseases here because everybody's nice and clean."

Donna looked about quietly as the Doctor continued.

"You asked for a relaxing weekend, I'm giving you a relaxing weekend—it's Tuesday and Wednesday, too, so you should be pretty grateful. Trust me: nothing can go wrong on Friendly Face, especially not while I'm around."


	3. Donna Investigates

Act 2 ~ Donna Investigates

Donna stretched out on the cloud-soft mattress, yawning a little as she turned over beneath the sheets. Her eyes flickered open, and as she sat up, a screen on the wall opposite hummed to life to greet her.

"Ms. Noble," the voice said as the Hotel's logo, a beaming face, appeared. "Are there any accommodations with which I may interest you this fine morning?"

"Nothing, thank you," she replied easily, throwing her feet off the side of the bed and into fluffy white slippers.

"Are you certain you would not enjoy a cup of coffee?"

"Quite certain, thank you. Could you leave me be a moment?"

"I serve you, ma'am," the voice said before the screen turned off. Donna stretched as she stood, and walked across her room to the telly. She turned it on and blinked; the menu screen was a bright, obnoxious shade of yellow.

She clicked through about a hundred channels covering different angles of the Cheer—it was all a bit infantile to her really, spending every day in a party—and finally looped back to the beginning, before turning it off, bored.

The first two days of their 'weekend' (it had become an extended stay when the Doctor insisted he loved it there) were actually pretty enjoyable; Donna enjoyed a morning in the spa, followed by a plentiful brunch and an afternoon in the gym. She didn't spend as much time with the Doctor, but that was of her own volition; he slept in until one in the afternoon, ate a banana, and spent the rest of the day out at that Cheer, 'absorbing the culture.'

But by now she was a little more than bored—she resolved to learn what this planet was hiding. Not that she had any solid proof, of course, but that a planet the _Doctor_ chose to land on could be anything but a hidden disaster was preposterous.

After dressing she left her room and slyly crossed over to the Doctor's room. She found him snoring in a position she would have to mock him for later, but the things she needed were in his coat. It was slung over his bedpost, and arm-deep in his pockets she finally grasped psychic paper and a screwdriver. Slipping back into the hallway, she pocketed them both, deciding to return before the Doctor woke to return him his affects.

It wasn't difficult to discover where she had to go; there were colored lines on the floor coded with each destination; she followed the one coded for 'Research and Development: Authorized Personnel Only.' The very name of it worried her. Why would a small resort hotel need an entire department for research and development, and why would it be presented as off-limits?

At first it was merged with several other paths, but slowly, the others dwindled until she was following only two lines on the floor: Research and Development, and Security. As Donna turned a final corner, she realized both paths led to the same door.

She suspiciously approached it, sliding the psychic paper across a scanner to the right of it. A red light above the door turned green, and she could hear an interior lock click open. She grabbed the handle and swung it open, coughing on the rancid air she inhaled.

"It's awful, but it grows on you," a voice said; she looked up and saw a man dressed in a smart black suit approaching her. The room was dimly lit, but she could make out the silhouettes of sleek, black machinery. Beneath the man's voice she heard dripping of liquids and…was that a human moan?

"I suppose you're the lass they're sending in from New Earth?" he asked. "I never suspected you'd come so quickly."

"I…we like to stay on top of things, sir," Donna replied quickly. She extended a hand, and found his cold and clammy.

"Mr. Patrick Lourdes; call me Patrick," he said. "And I'm afraid I don't know your name, either."

"Donna Noble," Donna answered easily. "Inspector of…hotels," she added with a wink, praying to ensnare his trust. Apparently it worked; he laughed softly.

"Allow me to get the lights, Mm. Inspector," he said, snapping his fingers; in one instant the room was filled with light, and Donna's breath caught in her throat.

"They're…they're…"

"Yes, they are."

Donna ran her tongue over her chapped lips nervously. "B—bodies."


	4. Captured

Act 3 ~ Captured

Lourdes narrowed his eyes as she forced herself to regain her composure. "Will you excuse me, Mm. Noble? I really must make a call."

"Sure," Donna said absently, allowing herself a closer look at the bodies. They were ghastly and pale naked figures with drips in their arms and electrodes on their foreheads and chests. But their eyes—their eyes were wide open and she saw expressions ranging from anger to joy within them. She held a hand over her mouth in terror; this was a _hotel!_ What was a bloody mad science lab doing here?

Donna approached a control panel and pulled out the sonic screwdriver, wishing she knew how to use it as well as she knew how to fly the TARDIS. She managed to send the screen reeling, however, to a black screen where green letters flowed across before her eyes, though she managed to catch some phrases.

…_Subjects reacting well…_

_ …New Earth requires new versions…_

_ …ill-humors particularly…_

_ …Bliss lethal: suggested action requested…_

"Finding the information diverting, Mm. Noble?"

Donna whirled about to see Lourdes pushing some sort of communicator into his left pocket. He had a glint in his eye that she knew could only be dangerous.

"Mr. L—Patrick," she breathed.

"The funny thing is," the man said, reaching into his right pocket, "that we happen to have a Donna Noble staying as a guest in our hotel at this very moment. How funny is it, then, that she should be completely identical to you?"

"I don't know what you mean." Donna felt her breaths growing faster and more erratic.

"I think you do, Donna," the man said. "You entered this hotel with some Doctor, and despite all the Happy we dosed you with, you weren't satisfied. You went looking for trouble."

"You _dosed—_this whole planet, it's a lie!" Donna cried. "No one here's really happy, they're just high!"

"They're happy as can be!" Lourdes replied. "You…perhaps _you_ cannot be made happy. I will concede we have been facing difficulties with some female testing. Perhaps a more appropriate emotion for you would be Fear."

"What?" Donna asked quickly, stumbling as she moved backwards towards escape that she knew was futile. He was on her in seconds, a machine—something akin to a syringe?—jabbed her throat, and the world around her spiraled and faded into a cold scream, the scream that she only knew for an instant was hers.


	5. The Doctor Investigates

_Donna's breaths were fast and shallow, and her burning eyes that had no more furious tears could only watch in despair. _

_ "Donna!" her mother cried. "Donna, help us!" _

_ "Donna, can't you save us?" her granddad put in. _

_ The two were strung in chains over the most terrible things she knew: hundreds of terrible hungry Racnoss; Sontarans, their weapons shouldered and ready to fire; and Pyroviles, breathing flame and curling their molten fingers, ready to strike at any moment. _

_ All the while Donna found herself immobile; she willed her feet to move, her lips to make some sound, but they refused. She watched in terror as the Racnoss approached her family, nipped at their chains threateningly, and hastened back down. Toying with them. _

_ Because Donna had no power to do anything. _

Act 4 ~ The Doctor Investigates

The Doctor yawned contentedly as he woke. Stretching for the sky, he slid from his bed and snatched up his coat sleepily.

"Three banana pancakes, powdered sugar, and chocolate milk, Doctor?" a pleasant humanoid waitress android asked him as he sat down, still wiping sleep from his eyes.

"Spot on," he nodded. He felt like there was something different, something he was missing, but couldn't quite place it. Something definitely felt different…well, on a planet like this one, that could only mean something was even better than before.

As the robot returned with his meal, he dug in delightedly. The food was so delicious…it just made him _feel_ happy. Glancing up, he noticed the other happy customers. Donna must've already come and had breakfast…and lunch, he added, noting the time. She really woke too early, such a busy bee of a woman.

Watching the other customers, however, he took a double-take, narrowing his eyes. A family sat gathered about a table, and when the waitress android came to the table, the father took its face in his fingers and kissed it full on the lips. His wife and children laughed in amusement at him as the kiss grew deeper—

-how happy did a man have to be to play tonsil-hockey with an android?

He blinked, swallowing and conceding that the happiness was simply contagious. He reached into his pocket to grab his hotel charging card when he realized what he was missing.

"Um—waitress!" The android bringing him his pancakes set the platter on the table and looked at him inquisitively. "Yes, waitress…I seem to have misplaced something. I was wondering: is there a way I can view the security footage of my room for this morning?"

"In the service room, yes," the android replied. The Doctor handed it his charge card and got to his feet, ignoring the food as he shot from the room.

"Yes, my name is the Doctor," he said when he reached the desk before the service room. "I'd like to see the security footage for my room, 134."

"Certainly, sir," the man across from him said with a nod. He waved the Doctor into the service room before him, and they sat down at the chair across from a collection of televisions displaying security cameras.

The Doctor thought a moment before questioning the man. "I've noticed most of the staff here are androids, Mr.?"

"Mr. Lourdes, Josef Lourdes," he answered. "Call my Josef. My brother owns the hotel. They are androids because we want _all_ of these people to feel as happy as can be. We don't want to make people wash dishes and clean up after them, because that would make _them_ feel tired. Every face you see should be—"

"A friendly face, yes," the Doctor nodded. "But why do you and your brother work?"

A brief smile lit up his face, replaced quickly by a controlled, serious expression as he scrolled through the different videos. "It makes my brother and I very happy to help people."

"Help people by making them happy for a few days?"

The man seemed to pause before selecting a video. "I think this is the one that you wish, Doctor," he said, pulling a video up on the main screen. It showed his room in a nightvision camera, and Josef pulled the video forward a little more, until he saw a form enter.

"Can you enlarge the—" the Doctor broke off as he saw and recognized immediately Donna's face. "Oh. Mr. Lourdes, I'm sorry for the inconvenience. This is my friend; she must've entered my room because she needed my items."

"This is your friend?" the man asked.

"Well, yes," the Doctor replied, but his words broke off. "Josef, is she in some sort of trouble?"

The man's eyes darkened, but he shook his head calmly. "No, not at all. But she was…selected for a bit of special treatment, a spa in the lower rooms. She won a lottery for it."

"Aw, brilliant," the Doctor said, suspicious but feigning interest. "I don't suppose it would be too much trouble for me to see her, would it?"

"Certainly not," Josef replied briskly. "If you'll follow me?"


	6. The Doctor's Discovery

"_What's wrong, Doctor?" Donna asked curiously; his eyes were empty and unreadable. _

_ "I'm leaving," he said simply. _

_ "Okay, let's go," Donna replied, before he shook his head. _

_ "I'm going alone." _

_ Donna felt her breath catch in her throat. "W—what?" she asked. The idea that he would leave her...after all they had been through together? It was impossible. _

_ "I'm going, in the TARDIS, and I'm leaving you here," he said, his tone patronizing. "What, did you think you could just travel with me forever?" _

_ "I—" _

_ "You're ordinary, Donna," the Doctor said. "You're not smart, or strong, or brave. You're just in my way." _

_ Donna felt her blood run cold as she watched him disappear.

* * *

_

Act 5 ~ The Doctor's Discovery

"So. Where are we going?"

Josef shot the Doctor a furtive glance. "To your friend," he answered.

"Well, I'm sure you have all intention of taking me to her, but frankly we can't be going the right way. This path is labeled as Research and Development on the map."

"The map—it's outdated. We're going to replace it."

"Ah, okeydokey, just checking. Because I've never been in a hotel with research and development, do you know that? Maybe you'd like to research some updated maps."

"The hotel used to be a manufacturing company," Josef said. "They had research and development."

"Funny, it's labeled as a hotel on the map," the Doctor murmured.

Josef scowled. "You ask a large amount of questions," he growled.

"Only way to learn," the Doctor grinned. "But maybe I don't ask enough. What exactly did this company manufacture?"

"I wouldn't know," the man answered uncomfortably. "Not my place to know, is it? I just help run this hotel."

"This one?" the Doctor asked. "Are there others, like, in a chain?"

"Yeah," Josef nodded, seemingly eased by a question he could answer. "Here we are."

He scanned his hand and waved the Doctor in; it struck the Time Lord that he was very blatantly being sent into a trap, but it was better to play the hapless victim than protest. He walked in, and the door was closed, not surprisingly, behind him.

Before him stood a man with arms crossed and lips pursed. "Oh, what will we do with this one?" the man asked. "Patrick Lourdes at your service."

"Doctor. I'm not interested in chatting; where's my friend?"

Patrick raised his eyebrows. "Well, she can't leave. She was found snooping, the dear girl, and I'm afraid I was forced to take her into the next stage of testing."

"Next stage?" he asked. "What was the first stage?"

"The one you were in, until you followed your friend's example in poking your nose where it ought not to be. _Happy _testing, my dear Doctor."

"Happy?" the Doctor asked, before narrowing his eyes. "You can't simulate real happiness."

"Actually, it turns out we can," the man said simply. "What we can't simulate is fear. Thankfully, Doctor, your dear companion has enough fear to last a lifetime."

"What?" the Doctor asked, taking a step forward.

"Our newest experiment," Patrick said, looking disgustingly proud. "Our newest drug, Doctor, is one which brings to the surface the most primal, the _rawest_, of all human emotions: Fear. Of course, we needed to test it. Your Donna was in the right place at the right time for us. The drug stimulates synapses in a brain, instilling agitation within a human. The practical applications are innumerable; we've already received orders from black market salesmen and politicians. Imagine: you want to win an election, so you make your foe too afraid to run against you!"

"Where is Donna?" the Doctor demanded, not bothering to point out the horrors the man suggested. "_Bring her to me!_"

"If you insist," Patrick shrugged, crossing the room to a computer and holding a button down. "Fetch me patient thirty-seven." Immediately the Doctor heard the motion of gears and the whirring of electronic equipment. "She'll be out presently. It was surprising how strongly the drug affected her; she must have more fear than she knows what to do with."

As a gurney rolled into the room smoothly, the Doctor couldn't believe that Donna had any fear in her at all. He ran to her quickly.

She was unconscious beneath a thick plastic blanket, and she could've just been deep within a REM cycle. But when the Doctor's fingertips brushed her fiery hair from her face, however, she seemed to wake suddenly, eyes snapping open and a moan on her tongue.

"D—Doctor," she breathed.

"I'm here, I'm here, Donna," he answered. Her reply was a blood-curdling scream.


	7. Climax

_Black eyes, black, black, black…_

_Donna Noble backed away in terror. "No!" she screamed. "No, stay away from me!" The eyes were cold, unfamiliar, and unrelenting. "Stay back!" As the man stepped closer and his hands rose from his sides, extending towards her, she shrieked again. "No! Doctor, _save me!_" _

"_I _am_ the Doctor," the man answered, a sneer crossing his familiar lips. "Come on, Donna; show me a friendly face."_

Act 6 ~ Climax

"Donna! _Donna?_" The Doctor shook her shoulders worriedly before returning his gaze to a sneering Patrick Lourdes.

"Oh, it appears she's a bit afraid of you, Doctor," the man said, taking pleasure in the Doctor's rage. "She must be waking up a little; her surroundings and her memory are mashing up within her mind."

"Make her better," the Doctor shouted, curling his hands into fists. "Make her better, or there will be nowhere in the universe you can hide from me."

"Superhuman fury…fascinating, I simply _must_ take a look at your brain," Patrick said simply. "Later, perhaps…I've got a business meeting in an hour; the New Earth senate is very interested in Bliss. Well, I suppose a shot of Sleep will subdue you until I return."

From his pocket he pulled a small device, the contents of which the Doctor knew was not something he wanted in his body. As Patrick came closer, the Doctor swallowed nervously. He stood rigidly, taking a single step backwards before the device broke his skin. He could not help a cry of pain, and he toppled forwards as Patrick bolted from the room, locking the door behind him.

The Doctor shook, pain pulsing through his veins, before remembering himself for a moment, all he needed. He slowed his breath until he could feel himself taking control once again, and shook his hands furiously. Luckily this poison wasn't as difficult to relieve as cyanide; he concentrated on guiding it from his body and coughed as some of it rose in his throat. It collected within his mouth and finally he spat it out onto the floor; it wasn't much, but it was enough. He heaved his breaths silently, closing his eyes and collapsing onto the floor, before leaping up and running to Donna's side.

She cringed when she saw him, though her eyes were glassed over, as though she couldn't really see him, but was imagining he was there. He couldn't help his hand from falling to the side of her face, fingers filled with more terror than Donna could ever feel caressing her cold, pale cheek gently. Her chest rose and fell with anxious breaths as they touched, but her lips didn't utter a single cry—too scared, perhaps?

That Donna was afraid alone made the Doctor angry. In any other circumstance, he'd want to take apart whatever was scaring her and leave it to die in a violent, newborn sun. Anything that could scare Donna was a force to reckon with, and anything that would try while he was around mad. But that it was him making her so afraid…he would never try to make her fear him, never try to hurt her—he was too afraid _for_ her to even imagine it. But was she really afraid of him? Of course she was; he would be afraid of himself in her shoes.

He kept his hand to her clammy skin, unable to break that connection; he was afraid if he let her get away, he would lose her to the Fear. He'd rather die than see her leave.

For hours this bond was unbroken; he stood, exhausted but resolute, and she lay there, her breaths slowing by minute degrees only the Time Lord would notice. Occasionally a small, weak cry would escape her lips, but he swallowed and spun a strand of red hair between his thumb and forefinger.

This infinitely small balance…

Finally, as if it was the blessing of a divinity, the Doctor watched Donna's eyelids flutter and close, as though she was slipping into a real, dreamless sleep. He exhaled a breath he must've been holding the entire time, and moved his hand to brush the hair away from her forehead. He bent over the gurney slowly, planting a soft kiss on her forehead. Now she could sleep.


	8. Epilogue

Donna furrowed her brow, blinking herself awake. She curled her fingers into fists, bunching in her hands downy-soft covers, and sat up, unusually meek.

She could remember, and her throat grew tight.

That man—Lourdes—she could remember the device piercing her skin and a soft whimper escaped her lips, though that was the gentlest of what she remembered. It was all a terrible jumble; monsters and creatures attacking her, her family being attacked…and the Doctor.

She knew it for a nightmare, but she couldn't quell a feeling of apprehension as she tiptoed into the console room; she was in her softest cottony pajamas, though at this point she didn't care how the Doctor had gotten her into them. Her nightmares…she would never tell the Doctor all of it. She couldn't, and he'd never have the hearts to let her stay after that.

"Doctor?" she asked quietly. He was there, bent over the console, though she could tell he wasn't doing anything; his fingertips swept down across the controls, activating nothing, but she knew it made him feel better.

He didn't reply, so she took that as an invitation to come in.

"Did _you_ have a nice trip?" she asked gently, a nervous attempt at humor. He tensed, and she swallowed nervously.

"Donna…" she could hear anguish slipping through the cracks in his façade, and even dared to believe she saw a diamond tear fall from the corner of his eye. His voice was its softest, yet rawest; the low, throaty breath that broke her heart into pieces. She took a few steps towards him, and ran her hand down his arm tentatively. When he spoke again, his eyes were closed tightly and his breaths ragged.

"Are you afraid of me?"

She inhaled softly; how had he guessed? As her hand reached the end of his sleeve, she curled her fingers about the hem of his wrist. They stood frozen in silence, frozen in time, until the universe seemed to stop altogether, just for one moment…

"I love you," she said simply. When he looked up at her, startled, she smirked. "Oi! As a _friend_, Spaceman!" A playful punch on the arm that he supposed would bruise more than convinced the Doctor of her sincerity. "Of course I'm afraid, Doctor, but anyone would be mad not to be. You're a flipping _alien_. I am flying around in time and space with an alien in a little blue box. But you know why I'm staying?"

The Doctor raised his eyebrows, affronted. "I make the final decisions here. Who said you're staying?"

"_I _did, Time Boy," Donna retorted. "And I am _staying_ because you know what?" She raised her hand as if to slap him, and grinned when the Doctor recoiled just a bit. "Because I think, Spaceman, that you are just a little bit afraid of me, too."

With a laugh, Donna turned to the controls of the TARDIS, pulling the first lever she saw and beaming as they lurched backwards into the jumpseat. The Doctor rolled his eyes; this was his Donna.

"What do you say we head to this planet called Midnight?" he asked. "Made of diamonds! And, maybe this time, I'll have the adventure."


End file.
